DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (DOD) THRUST PROGRAM Contact, DoD Thrust Program at 1-800-553-1858. The Department of Defense (DoD) will be conducting a series of ``DoD Thrust Initiative''Conferences for small businesses, women-owned businesses, Historically Black Colleges and Minority Institutions. The Thrust Program focuses on the following industries: Environmental, Health Care, Management Information Systems/Simulation, Manufacturing, and Telecommunications. The objective is to provide increased DoD Contracting opportunities for the aforementioned audiences. Each conference will be hosted by a designated Military Department or Defense Agency. The Environmental Conference was held March 6-7, 1996 in San Antonio, TX. The Telecommunications Conference will be hosted by the Defense Information Systems Agency on May 9-10, 1996 at the Sheraton Premiere in Vienna, VA. The next conference will be hosted by the Navy and will feature Management Information Systems and Simulation on May 21-22 in Oxnard, CA. Additional conferences will be held in the following cities: San Antonio, TX (Health Care) in June and Orlando, FL (Manufacturing) in July.

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